Apparatus for distilling mercury from gold amalgam.



W.'B BENNETT. TILLING'MERGURY mom GOLD A MALGAM.

APPARATUS FOR ms APPLICATION FILED APR. 12, 1909.

Patented 0ct.419,1909.

' W flvissss mmiew. B. unwm c0" PHOTU-UTNDGRAPNERS. wAsmNGmmu. c,

WILLIAM ERNEST BENNETT, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING MERCURY FROM GOLD AMALGAMi Specification ofLetters Patent.

Patented Oct. 1 9, 1909.

Application filed April 12, 1909. Serial No. 489,425.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM ERNEST BEN- NETT, a citizen of the UnitedKingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and resident of 56 Moorgatestreet, London, England, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Apparatus for Distilling Mercury from Gold Amalgam, ofwhich the following is a specification, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to an improved gold retort of the kind in whichthe mercury is separated from the gold amalgam by heat it being wellknown that when heat is applied to the amalgam the mercury is driven offand can be collected in water or by other ,as to render the space inwhich the tray is placed airtight. A fire basket of any suitable kind isarranged in juxtaposition to the upper part of the cover and may besupported thereby or by the water pan or in other convenient manner. Thefire basket is preferably furnished with a hood to lead off the productsof combustion.

The apparatus is preferably of circular cross sectional shape and theparts of such size in relation to each other, and of such construction,as to be capable of fitting or folding one within the other fortransport purposes, for example, the fire basket ma, be slightly smallerthan the water pan so as to drop therein when out of use, the invertedor bell-like cover may be sufliciently short to lay side uppermost inthe fire basket, the tray and its support may be removed and placedwithin the cover and the hood may be conveniently made in two partswhich may be placed one within the other and over the cover in the firebasket.

The positions of the fire baskets and the water pan when packed may ofcourse be reversed and other modifications may be made without departingfrom the spirit of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings :Figure 1. illustrates a vertical partlysectional view of my invention as made in circular cross sectional form.Fig. 2. is a partly cross sectional plan view of an apparatus similar.to that shown in Fig. 1.

The tray a receives the amalgam and is supported by the rod 6 shownstanding centrally under the cover 0 in the water trough e. The lowerend of the cover 0 has slots d forming water passages into and out ofthe cover. A fire basket f of annular shape and with openings 9 isfitted around the upper end of the cover 0 and supports the cone-.shaped hood h with outlet 2'.

The construction shown in the drawings is one of the most simple andsuitable for the purpose but it is obvious that modifications such asarranging the tray away from the pan and furnishing it with a curvedtubelike cover dipping into the pan could be made within the scope ofthe invention.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. For theextraction of mercury from gold amalgam by heat, a tray to hold theamalgam, a cover over the tray and dipping into a water pan and a firebasket in j uxtaposition to the tray and supported by the cover.

2. For the extraction of mercury from gold amalgam by heat, a watertrough, a cover dipping therein and closed except at some place belowthe water, a tray for the amalgam arran ed within the cover and abovethe water in the trough and a fire basket arranged outside the cover andclose to the tray and supported by the cover.

3. For the extraction of mercury from gold amalgam by heat, a watertrough, a tray supported therein, a cover over the tray and dipping intowater in the trough, a fire basket around the upper end of the cover anda hood over the basket for leading away the products of combustion, saidbasket and hood being carried by the cover.

4. For the extraction of mercury from gold amalgam by heat a watertrough of ciradapted to fit over the cover when the appa- 10 cular crosssection, a tray for the amalgam ratus is in use.

supported by a rod of less length than the In Witness whereof I havehereunto set my inside diameter of the trough, a cover of cylhand inpresence of two Witnesses.

in er-like form closed at one end and also of T T T lesser length thanthe diameter of the trough, TILLIAM ERA EST BEL BETT' a circular firebasket, of such size in relation Witnesses:

to the trough that the one Will fit inside the H. D. J AMESON, other fortransport purposes and a hood A. NUTTING.

